Chương 99: I'm Not a Cosplayer, I'm the Real Deal!

"Oi!" a man standing behind Sakura suddenly spoke up. "You got any flyers left?"

After renting a hotel room like Jiraiya had asked her to, Sakura had decided to go out into town; to enjoy the festival and to sample some of the local cuisine. She'd been standing in line to purchase some takoyaki, when someone had tapped on her shoulder…

"Are you talking to me?" asked Sakura in confusion, turning around to face her interlocutor; a red-nosed middle-aged man looming over her, who was wearing his tie around his forehead.

"Yeah, who else would I be talking to?" grunted the man who reeked of alcohol, leering at her chest as he spoke. "Which café do you work for?"

Question marks started popping up above Sakura's head.

"I'm a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf," answered Sakura, pointing to the top of her head. "Can't you see the headband?"

"Oh man, the dedication to the roleplay is really doin' it for me," said the man, slurring his words. "If they've got someone like you handing out flyers, then the other girls have got to be outta this world… hic!"

Sakura's face turned bright pink; it was suddenly occurring to her that this man had mistaken her for a waitress; the kind that worked at kunoichi-themed maid cafés. And to be perfectly fair, it was understandable as to why someone would think this way upon seeing her at first glance…

"I'm sorry," said Sakura abruptly. "I just remembered that I left my soup on the stove!"

Rather than wasting any more time explaining herself to a literal NPC, Sakura leapt ten metres into the air onto a nearby roof (startling the drunken man into falling over backwards onto his butt), before running away to the safety of her hotel room, internally screaming in embarrassment.

…

Much later, once the sun had fallen behind the horizon, Naruto and Jiraiya, following Sakura's scent using a Tracker Toad, finally found their way to the hotel room that she had rented.

There, they found Sakura, who was feeling rather miffed. Whatever it was that the pair had been doing together, whether it was training or intelligence gathering, they hadn't included her— so she simply decided to ignore them in return, much to Naruto's dismay.

"Just leave her, Naruto," said Jiraiya, holding up a hand to his mouth to yawn. "I've learned a long time ago that it's useless trying to understand what women are thinking. It's the hormones, you see— makes 'em irrational. They won't tell you what they want, as if you're supposed to guess. Sometimes, I wonder if they even know what they want themselves…"

Sakura resisted the urge to smack Jiraiya— she knew he'd simply dodge or use this as another teachable moment to push Naruto further down the path of machismo, so she simply harrumphed and wrapped herself in her futon's covers to go to sleep. It was bedtime, anyway.

…

A few hours later, all three of them were sound asleep, despite Jiraiya's obnoxiously loud snoring.

…all three of them, that is, until Naruto got smacked in the face by one of Jiraiya's gigantic hands; Jiraiya was an incredibly restless sleeper. Knocked back into consciousness, Naruto suddenly realized that he had to go to the bathroom.

He blearily shuffled out of the warmth of his futon, before slowly making his way towards the line of light shining in the gap under the door that led to the corridor. But as he trudged along, yawning, he suddenly lost his footing and tripped— he had just stepped in something incredibly warm and soft and giving…

Naruto was now wide awake. Feeling a certain reaction in his nether regions, he quickly got to his feet and escaped from the room, while Sakura stirred in her sleep behind him…

"Out of the way, kitty," Naruto hissed to the cat rubbing against his legs as he walked.

He then spotted the hotel's caretaker standing in the staircase.

"Where's the bathroom, mister?" asked Naruto, raising his voice as high as he dared to.

"To your right, it's at the end of the corridor," the caretaker responded.

Naruto quickly thanked the man and hurried to the bathroom to take care of his business… and once he was done, he noted how the water spiralled down the drain hole after flushing. Reminded of his Rasengan training, Naruto absentmindedly reached for the doorknob and pushed the door open… only to be met with a terrifying sight.

"I'm sorry!" Naruto yelped reflexively.

"Oh, it's you, Naruto," Sakura said tiredly; her long pink hair an absolute mess, resembling some sort of mythological creature of the snakey variety. "Hey… What were you apologizing about?"

Sakura hadn't realized that he had been the one to awaken her by stepping on one of her breasts, Naruto realized. Which meant that he needed to come up with something fast, before she realized what he had done!

"I… er…" Naruto stammered, casting his eyes around in a panic, searching for something to say. And that's when he noticed that he had dropped one of his water balloons in the corridor, giving him a brilliant idea! "I'm, er… stuck," said Naruto contritely. "With my training, I mean! You're good with chakra control, right? Pervy Sage said that I was supposed to figure it out on my own, but I could really use some advice…? Sorry for asking..."

Nice save, he congratulated himself!

Sakura immediately brightened up. If she could sabotage Naruto's Rasengan training, then perhaps he would consider learning more than just five Ninjutsu?

"Why don't you show me?" she said gently; Inner Sakura inwardly cackling.

Naruto ran past her and picked up the stray water ballon from the floor. He then held it in his upwards-facing palm and concentrated; the balloon began stretching out and flattening, as he rotated the water within it with his chakra, before finally giving up.

Basically, the Rasengan wasn't like most other Jutsu, where the manipulation of chakra happened on the inside of the body. It was more like wall-walking—projecting chakra outside of the body and maintaining it there without letting it dissipate, which was a whole new ballgame, difficulty-wise.

"Lemme try," said Sakura innocently.

"You're supposed to pop it," said Naruto, dropping the balloon in Sakura's waiting palm. "But I can't figure out the trick…"

At this point, Naruto had pretty much reached chapter 3 Sakura's level of chakra control, while Sakura herself was now at 5.64 times her early self. If she wanted to pop the balloon the wrong way, then it really wouldn't be a problem for her!

Sakura quickly moulded some chakra, letting it leak through her palm's Tenketsu, before giving it a spin in one direction. The water inside the balloon soon turned into a whirlpool, spinning faster and faster until it had transformed into a nearly flat disc, like a watery saw blade!

Pop! Splash!

"And there you have it," said Sakura calmly, handing Naruto the popped balloon. "There are no shortcuts to mastery, you know? Keep practising your chakra control."

Disappointed, Naruto trudged away…

'The regular Rasengan is pretty inefficient, now that I think about it,' Inner Sakura pointed out. 'Separating chakra streams, spinning them in multiple directions at once to make a sphere… it's a huge waste of energy, compared to spinning it only one direction at a time.'

Sakura closed the door to the bathroom behind her and plopped herself down on the toilet seat without even looking. If Naruto had only needed to pee, she would have fallen straight into the toilet bowl— proof that her male consciousness was quickly becoming a thing of the past.

"That spinning chakra saw blade," said Sakura out loud. "It kind of looked like those Indian throwing disc weapons, right? So, by extension… Rasenchakram?"

'It smells funny in here,' said Inner Sakura thoughtfully. 'Wonder what's that odour? It's kinda making me nostalgic…'